This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 11-72149 and 11-285659 (1999), the abstracts of disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an earthing clip terminal and an earthing structure including the same which are used for discharging static electricity from home appliances and OA appliances, for example.
2. Description of Related Arts
There has been known an earthing terminal which is secured to a mounting plate by means of a fixing screw through a mounting hole of the mounting plate. This terminal, however, requires the screw which increases costs. Additionally, the assembly work is cumbersome, involving an operation for mounting the terminal using a screwdriver.
An alternative earthing terminal has been proposed which is easily mounted to place in a snap by passing a mushroom-shaped hook thereof through the mounting hole of the mounting plate (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No.7-022471 laid open on Apr. 21, 1995).
This earthing terminal is arranged such that the hook is passed through the mounting hole and then expanded on a back side of the mounting plate for unremovably lock the terminal to the mounting plate.
Once mounted, the earthing terminal is generally left as it is. However, there may be a case where the mounted terminal need be removed and then mounted again. Unfortunately, the earthing terminal of the above official gazette cannot be removed in the first place.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8A, an earthing clip terminal 52 has been proposed which permits a snap-on mounting by clamping an end of a mounting plate 51 on both sides thereof (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No.8-6366 laid open on Feb. 21, 1996).
The clip terminal 52 is arranged as follows. The clip terminal 52 is mounted to the end of the mounting plate 51 by inserting the end of the mounting plate 51 between its terminal body 53 and its pressure strip 54 (clip piece) formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body. In this state, the clip terminal fixes itself to place by clamping the mounting plate 51 between the terminal body 53 and the pressure strip 54 and by locking an locking claw 55 formed at a free end of the pressure strip 54 in a through hole 56 of the mounting plate 51.
Since the pressure strip 54 has the locking claw 55, the clip terminal 52 cannot release the engagement between the locking claw 55 and the through hole 56 of the mounting plate 51 unless a gap between the pressure strip 54 and the terminal body 53 is expanded wide by using an edge portion 57 of the mounting plate 51, as shown in FIG. 8B. Hence, a great load is applied to a proximal end 58, or a root portion of the pressure strip 54, in particular, tending to cause plastic deformation thereof. If the clip terminal 52 is once removed from the mounting plate 51 and then mounted again, the pressure strip 54 and the terminal body 53 fail to present a sufficient clamping force so that a reliable earthing connection may not be accomplished.
Assuming a case where the clip terminal 52 of this type is mounted to the mounting plate 51 without the through hole 56, the clip terminal is held onto the mounting plate only by a frictional force presented by the locking claw 55 pressing a corresponding surface of the mounting plate 51. This results in another problem that the clip terminal suffers an insufficient retaining force.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a snap-on type earthing clip terminal which is capable of ensuring the reliable ear-thing connection if a need should arise for re-mounting the terminal.
According to a preferred aspect of the invention for achieving the above object, a snap-on type earthing clip terminal clamping a mounting plate on opposite first and second faces thereof, comprises: a plate-like terminal body to which an electric wire is connected; a locking claw which is formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body and is locked to the mounting plate; and a primary pressure strip which is formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body exclusive of an auxiliary cantilever pressure strip with the locking claw and which is cantilevered from the terminal body. The mounting plate is inserted between the primary pressure strip and the terminal body and between the primary pressure strip and the auxiliary pressure strip. The primary pressure strip includes a pressing portion which resiliently presses the first face of the inserted mounting plate thereby bringing the terminal body and the auxiliary pressure strip into close contact with the second face of the mounting plate.
In this aspect, the primary pressure strip and the auxiliary pressure strip are separately disposed on the opposite sides of the mounting plate and hence, a great formation of the primary pressure strip is not needed for releasing the engaged locking claw during the removal of the clip terminal. As a result, the plastic formation of the primary pressure strip is prevented. Thus, even if the terminal is once removed from the mounting plate and mounted thereto again, the reliable earthing connection is ensured.